On one side we have a group that thinks there might be an international comp held next year, might find out if a country is keen June this year but can not be decided upon till October. Team selection is from past 2 national titles but which two, current list of maybes shows that you simply only had to attend both shoots to make the top 10, top 6 will make the team and possibly top 9. So only 1 poor sole who shot both events will miss out. Good for those shooting but a bit of a laugh in terms of how to select a team. This is all from the shooters, the parent body has nothing to say on the matter and seems to treat rimfire as the poor cousin.
The other side has an international title lined up for 2015, there is a clear process for how to make the team that has been lined up for a long time. The selection shoots are clearly identified and dates set. Everybody knows what they need to do to make the team. They have been smart enough to make all plainly obvious and actively chased as many shooters as possible to the first selection shoot, resulting in an outstanding field of 66 shooters in the open class. There are only 12 spots left in this class, thats 85% full with a full 2 months before the “commence fire” command is given.
The 2 groups do not want to be seen to be competing against each other but the winner is pretty plain to see at the moment.
i believe that SSAA IRB has team Funding , correct me if im wrong
Dave.
All SSAA teams going to International overseas shoots can receive funding for the first team only. This is SSAA National policy - always has been as long as we can remember.
The shoot must be a sanctioned SSAA event, that is one that we are affiliated with such as IRB, benchrest, etc etc.
An easy way to identify such shoots is to simply ask, "Ïs there a SSAA National Championship for this event in Australia?"
Other team members seeking funding should approach their own branches, or organise sponsorship where possible.
Dave
Don’t pay much attention to rimfirBR he talks a lot of BS and doesn’t have the backbone or balls to put his own name to the crap he goes on about. At other forums they call people like him Trolls.
The IRB team is the toughest team to make and everyone has tried and so far nobody has been good enough to make the team more than twice. As for SSAA funding they have fully funded Pacific Regional teams, but a team to a WC I’d think would get the same funding sort of funding that a centerfire BR team gets and I have no idea how much that is but CF shooters say its not a lot.
All IRB nationals are selection matches for Australian teams and its up to individuals to decide if they want to try out for those teams or not and the next Pacific Regional is November next year and the qualifying matches would be 2013 and 1014 IRB nationals and seeing we didn’t go to Innisfail neither of us can make that team.
Peter
RBA HoF #1 (2007)
Peter,
What rimfireBR is saying is very true. It is so hard to get any information from the SSAA about rimfire.
For you saying that to qualify for and Australian IRB Team is harder than an Australian RBA Team is a joke. When you consider that the targets are very similar, both matches are shot by a lot of the same people. We are not a big enough country that you can only stick to one side of the fence, you have to shoot under both bodies to get a good chance at competition. As I see a number of the top place getters you have listed in the IRB standings are current members of the Australian RBA Team going to Plzen.
From what I have been reading you are of the belief that IRB is the be all and nothing else is as good, Correct me if I am wrong but did you not run RBA here in Australia, before it was handed over to the current body. Which would have taken a lot of work from you to get the sport up and running and getting Australian Teams organised to go overseas. So how can it now be considered by you as the inferior discipline.
As a member of the current Australian Team travelling to Plzen I take offence to your comments and your posts that you have been placing on other forums. I worked hard to qualify for the Team and am very proud to be representing Australia come this August.
If RBA is the inferior discipline why have you nominated for the 1st qualifier for Brisbane 2015 and why do you want to shoot RBA.
And Yes I will put my name to post,
Chris
Chris
Compared to the rest of the world we have a unique situation here with 2 associations having nationals team and shooters can pick one side or the other, or both and just get on with it. But what we don’t need is someone hiding behind a fake name bagging one side or the other.
Looks like how hard it has been to make a team is open for debate so I’ll lay out some facts and let people make up their own mind.
RBA had shooters go to Italy 2008, Plzen 2010, USA 2011 and there is another team for Plzen soon. Now I’m sure there must be someone but I’m not aware of anyone who shot all the qualifying matches for any of those trips, had the cash and wanted to go and didn’t go on that trip.
IRB teams in 2008, 2010 and 2012 I could give you a long list of shooters who shot all the qualifying matches for each of those teams, yet didn’t make the team.
Of all the people who have been away on a RBA teams only 2 have ever made an IRB team and the top 6 qualifiers for the 2012 IRB team all had the option to be on the RBA team for the 2011 world championships in the US and knocked it back.
What makes some qualifying matches much tougher than others is nothing to do with one association or the other, it’s about cash. People all want to make an Australian team but they want to do it as cheap as possible and a WC at home or a free trip overseas will attract more interest and be a tougher qualifying process than qualifying for a self funded overseas trip.
For the record, my last 2 matches were RBA nationals and PRSC in NZ and haven’t shot a match this year. I will say I enjoy the one gun 6 target matches formats better and I’m hoping to be well enough to get to the Qld Cup next month and I think that is a RBA match.
Peter
RBA HoF #1 (2007)
"top 6 qualifiers for the 2012 IRB team all had the option to be on the RBA team for the 2011 world championships in the US and knocked it back. "
I do believe Mitchell Tallar qualified for RBA 2011 team, and knocked it back due to school/study commitments, and I know of another team member who was all set to go, but had to drop out due to poor health.
Absolutely nothing to do with RBA v IRB and "oh my, I'm not shooting RBA because it's a sub-standard discipline.." crap.
Bec
A lot of people didn’t go to the US, in finding shooters to go I got down to 45th on the qualifying list and 15 went to the WC so that means 30 knocked back a chance to go to the US in 2011 and as I said its about cash and if it was a WC at home or a free trip, I wouldn’t have needed to go very far down the qualifying list to find 15 willing to be on the Australian team.
The qualifying for 2015 starts soon and looks like most are coming out to play, it’ll be a tough team to make and everyone who makes the team will be there on merit.
Peter
RBA HoF #1 (2007)
"30 knocked back a chance to go to the US in 2011"
... and your point is? I know of one person who was itching to go, did everything necessary in order to qualify as high as they could, but was competitor #45 (I think that's where I ended up).
I only shot the one RBA Nationals, because I'd started shooting just after the Nats the year before, so I could only put in one qualifier.
It took 6 months for the list to get to my position, so I had 6 months to prepare.
Your whole premise originally was that 30 people dropped out simply because it wasn't IRB shooting, but the inferior RBA. Only _now_ do you see that the 30 may have dropped out for other reasons, partly cost related, perhaps?
Maybe they didn't want to travel to the USA because of the hassle of taking guns over there? (It wasn't a hassle in the end... and I'd do it again, in a heartbeat).
Maybe, as I said, other commitments, like work (who'd a thunk it! *laugh*), or school, or Uni, or family? Sick relatives/partner? Maybe too much of a hassle to get all the paperwork together?
Yes, it was expensive, but partly offset by an effort to get sponsors onboard. The trip was amazing, the shooting was _hard_.
I'm excited to be able to join the team again to travel to Plzen, Czech Republic. It's gonna be another memorable event. The shooting, the camerarderie between all the shooters at the event, the friendships formed, the team activites, the travel opportunities all combine to make these events ones you want to get to, even if it costs you a bucketful of money, sweat, and tears.
You just do it, or forever regret it.
Actually, now I get it.
RBA is inferior to IRB because IRB is supposedly funded, and RBA is not. Is that right, Peter?
If you qualified for the RBA 2015 team, would you accept it, or pass it up? Hell, it's only in Brisbane this time around....
Or are you only trolling? Like at the NSW State Champs?
Bec
What I said above is, its not about one group or the other being better, most shooters want to make an Australian team but most want to do it on the cheap. So when you have a WC at home (with no airfare) or a fully funded trip there will be more intrest in that and qualifying process will be much tougher than for a self funded overseas trip.
If you can’t understand what I’m saying, you’ll find almost all of your RBA team mates for the tip to Plzen have tried to make an IRB team, why not ask one of them what the attraction is.
Peter
PS if I make the 2015 team I’d be there, but like everyone else I’ll need to shoot good scores to make the team.
RBA HoF #1 (2007)